Editing Recommended Linux distros

{{For|Ports of the Linux kernel for consoles|Homebrew and hack Roms#Operating_systems}}
[[wikipedia:Linux distribution|'''Linux Distributions''']] have existed since 1992.
;This is a list of the current recommended Linux distros in their respective categories.
==General use focused==
;These Linux distributions offer a complete Desktop experience with a large user base.
;[https://linux-hardware.org/ Linux Hardware.org] is a good resource if you are having trouble finding Linux distributions that work on your computer.
*;See [[Linux_guide_for_emulators|guide to setup/download emulators]] for instructions for these distros.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Based on
! scope="col"|Desktop
! scope="col"|Latest Version
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|[https://ubuntu.com/ Ubuntu]<br/><small>Kubuntu</small>
|x86, ARM
|Debian
|Gnome, KDE (Kubuntu)
|24.04 LTS<br/>[https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop Ubuntu Desktop]<br>[https://ubuntu.com/download/raspberry-pi Ubuntu for Raspberry Pi]<br/>[https://kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/ Kubuntu]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://www.linuxmint.com/ Linux Mint]
|x86
|Ubuntu
|Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce
|[https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php 21.3]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://manjaro.org/ Manjaro]
|x86, ARM
|Arch Linux
|Xfce, KDE Plasma, Gnome
|[https://manjaro.org/download/ 23.1.3]
|{{✓}} ||{{{~}}
|-
|[https://www.raspberrypi.com/ Raspberry Pi OS]
|ARM, x86
|Debian
|PIXEL
|[https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/ 2023-12-05]
|{{✓}} ||{{~}}
|-
|[https://pop.system76.com/ Pop!_OS]
|x86<br/><small>ARM (preview)</small>
|Ubuntu
|Gnome (Cosmic)
|[https://pop.system76.com/ 22.04 LTS]
|{{~}} ||{{{n}}
|}

===Experienced users===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Based on
! scope="col"|Desktop
! scope="col"|Latest Version
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|[https://archlinux.org/ Arch Linux]
|x86<br/><small>ARM and others unofficially</small>
|Independent
|Any
|[https://archlinux.org/download/ Latest]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://www.debian.org/ Debian]
|x86, ARM<br/><small>and many others</small>
|Independent
|Gnome (and others)
|[https://www.debian.org/ 12.5]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://fedoraproject.org/ Fedora]<br/><small>Fedora Atomic</small>
|x86, ARM<br/><small>and many others</small>
|Independent
|Gnome (and others)
|40<br/>[https://fedoraproject.org/workstation/ Fedora Workstation]<br/>[https://fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/ Fedora Atomic]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://ubuntu.com/download/server Ubuntu Server]
|x86, ARM
|Debian
|Any
|[https://ubuntu.com/download/server 24.04 LTS]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|}

==Gaming focused==
;These Linux distributions target to be a complete gaming package. Emulators might not pre-installed on these systems but are easily installed.
;:You can use [https://www.emudeck.com/ EmuDeck] which is an installation script that helps you get started with emulation.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Based on
! scope="col"|Desktop
! scope="col"|Latest Version
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|[https://bazzite.gg/ Bazzite]
|x86
|Fedora Atomic
|KDE Plasma, Gnome
|[https://bazzite.gg/#image-picker 2.3.0]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://chimeraos.org/ ChimeraOS]
|x86
|Arch Linux
|Gnome
|[https://chimeraos.org/download 45]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|SteamOS 3<br/><small>HoloISO</small>
|x86
|Arch Linux
|KDE Plasma
|SteamOS N/A<br/>[https://github.com/holoiso-staging/releases HoloISO]
|{{✓}} ||{{~}}
|-
|[https://nobaraproject.org/ Nobara Project]
|x86
|Fedora Linux
|KDE Plasma
|[https://nobaraproject.org/download-nobara/ 39]
|{{✓}} ||{{~}}
|-
|[https://github.com/LukeShortCloud/winesapOS winesapOS]
|x86
|Arch Linux
|KDE Plasma
|[https://github.com/LukeShortCloud/winesapOS/releases 4.0.0]
|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}
|-
|[https://garudalinux.org/ Garuda Linux]<br><small>(KDE Dragonized Gaming edition)</small>
|x86
|Arch Linux
|KDE Plasma
|[https://iso.builds.garudalinux.org/iso/latest/garuda/dr460nized-gaming/latest.iso?r2=1 “Spizaetus” (231029)]
|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}
|-
|[https://draugeros.org/ Drauger OS]
|x86
|Ubuntu
|KDE Plasma
|[https://draugeros.org/download 7.6]
|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}
|-
|[https://get.regataos.com.br/ Regata OS]
|x86
|openSUSE
|KDE Plasma
|[https://get.regataos.com.br/p/download.html 23 "Honeycomb"]
|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}
|}

Comparison: https://github.com/ChimeraOS/chimeraos/wiki/OS-Comparison

==[[Emulators on Linux|Emulation focused]]==
;These Linux distributions offer complete emulation packages for PCs, single board computers, consoles and other systems.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Frontend
! scope="col"|Latest Version
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|[https://batocera.org/ Batocera.linux]
|ARM, x86
|[[EmulationStation]] fork
|[https://batocera.org/download {{BatoceraLinuxVer}}]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[[Lakka]]
|ARM, x86
|[[RetroArch]]
|[http://www.lakka.tv/get/ {{LakkaVer}}]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://www.recalbox.com/ Recalbox]
|ARM, x86
|[[EmulationStation]]
|[https://www.recalbox.com/download/stable/ {{RecalboxVer}}]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[[RetroPie]]
|ARM
|[[EmulationStation]] fork
|[https://retropie.org.uk/download/ {{RetroPieVer}}]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://www.elemenity.com/products/elemenity_os/ Elemenity OS]
|ARM64
|Custom, supports RetroArch
|[https://www.elemenity.com/products/elemenity_os/ 1.1]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://wimpysworld.com/projects/retro-home/ Retro Home]
|ARM, x86
|Ludo
|[https://github.com/wimpysworld/retro-home/releases 22.189-alpha1]
|{{n}} ||{{TBD}}
|}

==Android==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!colspan="6"|AOSP<br/><small>[https://www.esper.io/blog/aosp-missing-features-google-gms What does “AOSP Android” really mean?]</small>
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Frontend
! scope="col"|Latest Version
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|LineageOS
|ARM
|Trebuchet
|[https://switchroot.org/ 15.1] (<abbr title="based on the Nvidia Shield TV build of LineageOS">[https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#nvidia Switch]</abbr>)<br/>[https://konstakang.com/devices/rpi3/ <small>Raspberry Pi 3 builds</small>]<br/>[https://konstakang.com/devices/rpi4/ <small>Raspberry Pi 4 builds</small>]<br/>[https://konstakang.com/devices/rpi5/ <small>Raspberry Pi 5 builds</small>]
|{{✓}} ||{{~}}
|}
;See the [[Android emulators#Hardware features|Hardware features]] and [[Android emulators#Enhancements|Enhancements]] of sections of [[Android emulators]] for Android-x86 and it's forks.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!colspan="6"|Android on x86
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Frontend
! scope="col"|Latest Version
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|BlissOS
|x86
|Android-x86 fork<br/><small>includes 3 launchers: Taskbar, Quickstep and Smart Dock.</small>
|[https://blissos.org/index.html#download 16.9.x]
|{{✓}}<abbr title="BlissOS is the currently maintained + supported + newer kernel + hardware support + up-to-date + featured + open source Android x86 distro.">*</abbr>||{{✓}}
|-
|Berry OS
|x86
|Based on Android-x86 and Bliss OS<br/><small>Mini Desktop launcher is pre-installed.</small>
|[https://github.com/yui0/berry-os/releases 2023-02-22]
|{{✓}}||{{✓}}
|-
|Android-x86
|x86
|Trebuchet (KitKat version)
|[https://www.android-x86.org 2022-03-25]
|{{~}}<abbr title="Development activity on Android-x86 has significantly slowed down.">*</abbr> ||{{~}}
|}

==Wide range of platforms focused==
These Linux distributions provide system development environment experiences on a '''wide range of platforms, including different hardware architectures'''.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Latest Version
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|[https://t2sde.org/ T2 SDE]
|[[POS_(Pong_Consoles)_CPUs_and_Other_Chips|Alpha<br/>Arc<br/>ARM (incl. ARM64)<br/>Avr32<br/>HPPA (incl. HPPA64)<br/>IA64<br/>M68k<br/>MIPS (incl. MIPS64)<br/>Nios2<br/>PowerPC (incl. PowerPC-64 and le)<br/>RISCV (incl. RISCV64)<br/>s390x<br/>SPARC (incl. SPARC64)<br/>SuperH<br/>x86 (incl. x86-64)]]<br/>and theoretically any GCC/Linux supported one.
|[https://t2sde.org/download/ 24.5]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|}

==External links==
* [https://distrowatch.com/ DistroWatch]

[[Category:Operating systems|*]]